Category: Vendee Globe 2016

I can’t believe that it’s over a hundred days since the Vendee Globe started, it feels like it started just the other day. The race is winding down with only 7 skippers left till the end of the competition.

The top 10 crossed the finish line from 19 Jan till the 17th of February, with the latest being Fabrice Amedeo who crossed the finish line earlier today and claimed 11th place.

I understand that the nature of any race or competition is to crown the winner, second and third place but the Vendee Globe and any world sailing race differs especially solo races.

Every Skipper who competes on these kind of races are winners to me, the bravery to compete solo without assistance on a world race with nature’s forces: water and wind is beyond my comprehension. The 11 Skippers who had to dismaster along the way, due to damages etc, I am pretty sure making those decisions was by far one of the hardest decisions they made.They’re also winners and heroes in my eyes, I have a lot of respect for them.

Every skipper was just as impressive as the next, Fabrice Amedeo kept us entertained with his video clips. I remember watching one of his first video clips and mind you my French understanding is minimal but I watched till the end and laughed as well. And his playlist was just out of the world from hiphop to pop, he engaged us in a different way compared to the rest of the fleet.

One of the lessons that #VG2016 taught me is that in this thing called life, our races are different and nothing is wrong with that. One must learn to focus on their journey and not get distracted to see what others are doing. Do you, Be the Best you!

63 days ago 29 skippers set sail and embarked on the 8th edition of Vendee Globe non-stop solo round the world without assistance and the first boat/s are expected to arrive in Les Sables d’Olonne in 10 days. If we see this first boat by the 18th, they would’ve set a new record of 74 days compared to Francois Gabart’s 78 days in 2013.

Only 71 sailors out of 138 have crossed the finished since the start of Vendee Globe. 64 days into the 8th edition, 18 out of 29 sailors are still competing.

This edition has quite a number of VG veterans but it was great to see newcomers like Morgan Lagraviere -SAFRAN. I remember seeing him weep at departure and some people thought he wouldn’t get very far due to being too emotional that early, I think he did very well despite the damage on his boat. I mean he was giving veterans a run for their money for a while there. His name is still on the leaderboards for the 2nd Best Distance and Speed in 24hrs since the start of the race.

Morgan Lagraviere – SAFRAN Photo by Vendee Globe

While my athlete competitive heart goes out to the skippers who had to dismaster within the last 63 days, sometimes situations are beyond our control and that is probably the worst thing to happen to any athlete but I’m glad there has been no casualties. They deserve a standing ovation for the attempt, VG is not for everyone…only the bravest!

When the race started, Dee Caffari mentioned in her commentary that this edition would ultimately be the battle of the hydrofoil boats. Hydrofoils have dominated the top spots of the race with the current Top 4 right now.

It has been a game of Catch-Me-If-You-Can between the race leaders Armel and Alex, Alex is literally breathing down Armel’s neck and this for me has been the best part of the competition or rather what makes race exciting.

Alex Thomson – HUGO BOSS #VG2016

Armel seems to have picked up some speed but Alex- the comeback kid is still on his tail at 88.63nm and that is nothing to Alex even for an amateur like me. Alex is beasting, he is out for blood and understandably so. This is 4th appearance in the race with a 3rd place in 2013. Whereas this is the 3rd attempt by Armel, he unlike Alex finished 2nd in his last two Vendee Globes.

I think the most exciting part of any competition/race is when a game/race can go either way especially the last day/minute…and something tells me that we’ll see that next week. I don’t Armel and Alex will be sleeping much, if at all for the next couple of days.

Armel Le Cléac’h – Banque Populaire VIII #VG2016

Whatever happens, it has been a thrilling lesson for me to follow #VG2016. It is actually the first sailing competition I have followed from beginning to end. I learnt a lot, I have been glued to the tracker, newsfeeds since the beginning.